The Consauls

By Lottie and Homer

Our mother, Ida Consaul, was born in a log cabin on the outskirts of Toledo. She was a descendant of a Spanish Huguenot by the name of Emmanuel Gonzales who moved to Holland and finally came to America in his own ship. According to the records in the State Department of Education Library in Albany, New York, he arrived near Albany in 1684. He married a woman who was a member of a large Dutch family and his children settled in Schenectady. The record shows that they fought against the Indians, barely escaping with their lives in the Schenectady Massacre. The Dutch spelled the name in various ways such as Consaul, Consaulus and Gunsaulus. Two streets in Schenectady are named after the Consaul family.

The record reveals that Johannes Consaulus of "Nistigione" married Machtelt, daughter of Johannes Hemstraat in Albany on April 20, 1765. Their first son was Johannes, who was baptized in Schenectady on November 5, 1767. In due time he married Viney Manning and to this union four children were born. The eldest, John, whose birthday was September 27, 1793, was our great grandfather. He married Martha Waterbury (1799-1864) on July 7, 1817. They were the parents of ten children. William W our grandfather was born in Steuben, Oneida County, N.Y on September 30, 1818. The other children who lived beyond infancy were Joseph (1823-1841), Susan (b. Feb. 28, 1826) who married Watters Whitmore, Jason (1828 1910), Maria Lucinda (1831-1850), Amanda (b. Feb. 26, 1834) who married Alonzo Tinker, Savina (b. Sept. 28, 1836) who married Thomas Radcliffe, Lewis (b. July 20, 1840) and John (b. June 3, 1840). About 1836 John Consaul brought his family and settled in Oregon Township, Lucas County, , where he continued to reside until his death August 20, 1866. From Grandmother Consaul's notebook it was learned that the East Toledo was known as the Black Swamp and the people were called Swamp Angels. Everyone was said to have had ague. Another item of interest dating from this time was the fact that a license was issued to William Consaul to operate a ferry on the Maumee River. The license fee was forty cents. The record shows that he was also a member of the militia in Ohio at the time of the Mexican War in 1845.

William's first wife was Priscilla Hoag. The Hoags were of old Quaker stock and her parents William and Hannah Wood Hoag came from Vermont to southern sometime in the 1820s. They travelled to Buffalo by way of the Erie Canal. In 1839 they moved to West Toledo where William followed the trade of a wheelwright. Priscilla was born during the family's residence in Vermont in October 1824. Among the other nine children of William and Hannah Hoag mention should be made of Paulina (1827-1917) who married Russell Oles and moved to in 1879, Charles (b. Jan. 5, 1830) who was a Methodist preacher in Toledo, and Lillis Wood (1832-1917), who was our grandmother.

To William and Priscilla Consaul were born Ann Eliza (1844-1861), and Charles A. (1848-1872) Priscilla died on Feb. 21, 1852. In due course William married her sister, Lillis. Their children were Ida (b. Dec. 9, 1855 - d. May 31, 1927), Frank Irving (b. Feb. 6, 1868), and the twins Jennie Lind and Jessie May (b. March 23, 1872).

Another item gleaned by Lottie from Grandmother Consaul's notebook was that the first church in Oregon Township was established on the Consaul farm in 1849 and the first communion service was held at the home of William Consaul in December 1849. Also, according to Lottie, the old Consaul homestead in Oregon Township is now occupied by the Toledo Water Works Filtration Plant. Grandfather Consaul died in East Toledo on February 5, 1883, but Grandmother lived on until March 1917.

Uncle Frank married Cora Thorp. They had no children of their own but adopted a daughter, Lillis, and a son, Leslie. Aunt Jennie married Uncle Arthur Taylor and had no children. Aunt Jessie married Lloyd Whitcomb. They had four sons, Lawrence, Ward, Charles and William.

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